


never did I think that I would be caught in the way you caught me

by VolxdoSioda



Series: IgCor Week 2019 [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: ABO AU, M/M, aka the boys throw down for Ignis' happiness, courtship methods
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-10-25 01:09:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17715185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VolxdoSioda/pseuds/VolxdoSioda
Summary: For IgCor Week Day 2: ABO AU."You've had our backs all this way. Let Noct take care of this one, yeah?"Home from their travel across Eos to purify the Starscourge, Alpha Ignis navigates the battlefields of courtship to fellow Alpha Cor Leonis. There's just one problem.He has to face King Regis, first.





	never did I think that I would be caught in the way you caught me

"Be cool," Noctis orders. "It's gonna be fine, Igs."

 _Fine_ is subjective, Ignis knows, rubbing sweating palms on his jeans and telling himself  _if he says no it's not the end of the world._ Nevermind that this is  his future beyond Noctis he's thinking about, his sole bright point beyond taking care of Noctis...

Prompto rubs a hand steadily up and down his spine, and beside his boyfriends Gladio glares at the doors leading to the audience chamber like they've personally done him harm. Noctis looks like a general ready to wage war, which is flattering and also terrifying.

(Ignis has always known he would move sun and stars just to see Noctis live and breathe one more day. He just never thought Noctis would feel the same. It makes him more than a little breathless to know that.)

"My dad's a cool guy. He won't say no without a really good reason." Nevermind that Noctis has a list in his back pocket, a tiny 'Reasons To Let Ignis and Cor Court Formally' sketch that he spent all night filling in, because out of all of them he's been ready to throw down against anyone who looks at Ignis like he's stupid for wanting his happiness.

Six, Noctis is about to go up against his  _father_ for Ignis' hand in a potential courtship with the King's own general. Heavens help him, he might not survive this.

"Breathe, buddy," Prompto encourages, pushing a little extra Omega scent into the air. Wildflowers beneath sunlight, a wildfire ready to burn. "You've had our backs all this way. Let Noct take care of this one, yeah?"

Noctis gives Prompto a grateful smile - theirs is a partnership Ignis did not foresee, but is grateful for nontheless. Prompto seemed flighty until the first gunshot came out, and Ignis recognized that mask of steel and determination. Until they traveled Eos to banish a plague that the Gods could do naught about, and came back home in the end. 

Now they stand on another precipe, but this time Ignis does not doubt his friends are ready to catch him.

"What if he says no?" Ignis asks, against his better judgement. "If he feels Cor is too old, or--"

"Dad's been waiting  _years_ to give Cor's hand away. He won't say no. And he knows you're... you, Ignis. He won't say no to that either." Noctis takes in a deep breath. "The chastity vow though, that's gonna be on you guys."

Because he'll be vowing Ignis into a year-long courtship, promising the King that Cor walks with that he will be a good, faithful husband. There's a list of things he can't and can do with Cor, and most of it has to be done in public. If he fails that list, if he steps out of line  _once,_ it's over. The King can renounce the courtship, and Cor will no longer be exclusive to Ignis. 

"Have faith," Gladio orders, Alpha tone just barely skimming the words. A thick, endless forest in summer, the silent awe of watching something bigger than you and still so docile walk past, the scent of spring on the cusp of death. 

"Yes," Ignis says, taking in a bit of their backbone, and watching the doors to the chamber open. He hears Noctis being announced, watches as he lifts his chin and walks in like a  _King._ "I daresay I shall have to."

 

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

 

They walk out of the audience chamber four hours later as silent and still as the grave right up until the door closes. And then abruptly reality comes swinging back, and like a bunch of marionettes with their strings suddenly cut, they collapse where they are.

"Holy fuck," Gladio hisses. "That was  _terrifying."_

"Worse than any dungeon," Prompto agrees softly. "Menace or otherwise."

Noctis is grinning though, and his eyes sparkle when he looks at Ignis. "We did it, though. Cake, baby."

Ignis can't help it; he laughs. It's probably a little hysterical, given what he just endured - King Regis certainly acted as protective of Cor Leonis as Noctis did of him, and it was nerve-wracking in all the wrong ways. And his reward is this - a literal contract where he and Cor both signed and marked in blood that they will be bound for a year in a courtship that, if done correctly and to the letter, will end in a hand-fasting and marriage.

"Oh Six," Ignis whispers, "I'm getting married."

"In a year," Noctis chides, reaching out to gently pinch an ear in a fond gesture. "A year, buddy. Don't be jumping fences I just finished setting up. Behave, okay? Dad might be strong enough to do that a second time, but my nerves are  _shot."_

"You just said it was cake!" Prompto laughs, coming over to press a kiss against Noctis' cheek. "I heard you!" Their scents intermingle, until it smells like the Altissian gardens in full bloom.

"Yeah, cake for  _him._ Not for me."

"You big baby."

Gladio rolls his eyes, snickering as Noctis gets called out. Ignis can't stop looking at the contract - specifically, where it says  _and a year henceforth if all requirements be met, a wedded pair the below signed shall be._

One year. One year of avoiding all physical contact with Cor Leonis, the man who looked at him across the battlefield and didn't see some helpless little damsel needing protection, but a fighter in his own right. Who would tug him across the training room when the other trainees got too pushy and refused to accept 'no' and gave him an outlet for that rage. The man who bloodied his daggers and his body, and who still makes him feel like he's on an adrenaline rush every time.

But if he does this - no touching unless in public spaces, no kisses, no sexual contact of  _any_ kind - then he can have all that and more. He can settle down at last, and have what he's always wanted. A partner.

It's as Noctis says. Compared to what they just endured, this is the easy part. It will certainly make him ache for a while - he's come to expect a certain level of contact with Cor, and he will miss that dearly until the year is up. But once it's over, he doubts Cor will let that sit for long. 

He breathes out. "Thank you, Noctis. I'll handle things from here."

Noctis smiles at him, knowing and trusting and ready to catch him even as Ignis takes the plunge. "Yeah, I know."


End file.
